Heel and method of making the same



Mar. 3, 1925.

H. W RUSS HEEL AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME ori inal Filed May 15. 1924 Patented Mar. 3, i925 HEEL AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME,

Original application filed May 15, 1924, Serial No. 713,465. Divided and this application filed November 4, 1924. Serial No. 747,710.

To all whom it mcm/ concern:

Be it known that HARLEY W. Russ, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Haverhill, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, has invented an Improve ment in Heels and Methods of Making the Same, of which the following is a specification. I

llhis invention particularly relates to wood heels of the Cuban or military type, as distinguished from those of the Louis or French type; this application being a division of my pending application Serial Number 713,465, which relates to a machine for shaping the breast portion of the heel blanks from which heels of the above type, embodying the present invention, are formed.

While heels of the Cuban type have usually, until recently, been made of leather or leather board, or a combination of both, wood heels of this type are now extensively used, and while the present invention might be embodied in a heel made up of lifts, which is attached to the shoe before it is finally shaped or finished, it is believed to have but little or no practical advantage other than in connection with heels which are, at least, breast shaped previous to at tachment. As it has not been customary, in this country, to breast shape leather heels previous to attachment, under present conditions the present invention is believed to be primarily and probably only advantage one in connection with wood heels, which are invariably attached after they have been finished.

As ordinarily shaped, a Cuban heel has a breast surface which is concave transversely and straight longitudinally, or from top to base, and has its sides tapering from base to top and concaved longitudinally. It has been customary to breast shape such heels, when made of leather, after attachment, with an arc-shaped reciprocating knife, and, when made of wood, to breast shape them, before attachment, with a rotary cutter having arc-shaped cutting edges, the heel, in the latter instance being moved in a straight path past the cutter.

When the breast and sides of a heel are formed as above described, the deeper intermediate portion of the sides intersect different longitudinal elements of the breast surface than do the side portions nearer the top and bottom, and, as a result, the sides terminate in lines which are concave When viewed from either side. It is considered that when the sides of the heel terminate at the breast in a concave or inwardly curved line, as viewed from either side, the heel is objectionable in appearance and the trade demands that this line should be straight in side View.

Consequently it has been the practice, in the manufacture of shoes, having leathei heels of the Cuban type, to straighten the side breast edge with a hand knife by shaving down the edge at top and base. While the result thus secured is imperfect and may be imperfectly secured on a Wood heel in a similar way, as by a scouring operation, the increased labor cost is a serious objection.

The object of the present invention is to provide a form of heel of the Cuban or military type which has its breast and side surfaces so shaped relatively that said surfaces intersect in lines at each side Which lie approximately, in the same plane, or in which the lines of intersection of these surfaces in side elevation are approximately straight, said breast and side surfaces being adapted to be formed at the time the operation of shaping the heel is performed, so that no subsequent operation is necessary to straighten the breast edge line at each side.

In a general way, I accomplish this object by so forming the transversely concave breast surface that its surface is also convexly curved from top to base, or longitudinally, the extent of the convexity of the breast surface being made to correspond to the desired longitudinal concavity of the side surfaces, so that they neutralize each other at their lines of intersection, with the result that said lines are approximately straight in side elevation, or lie in approximately the same plane surface.

The machine disclosed in my said pending application comprises a blank holder consisting of two clamping members for engaging the base and top ends of the blank and means for moving the holder to carry the blank longitudinally in an arc-shaped path and in position to be operated on by a rotary grooving cutter, of the type commonly employed to form a transversely concave breast surface, the path in which the blank is moved being externally tangent to the path of the edges of the cutter blades, so that the resulting surface is longitudinally convex.

A heel such as produced by said machine is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a heel block previous to the breasting and turning operations.

Figs. 2 and 3 are side elevations of different heel blocks subsequent to the breast-ing operation.

Figs. 4 and 6 are respectively top and base end views of the heel blocks shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view at line 55 of Figs. 7 and 8 are respectively side and rear end elevations of a heel blank on which both the breasting and turning operations have been performed.

In the drawing a. indicates a wood heel block, or blank, and in Fig. 1 the blank is illustrated in the form into which it is usually shaped by saws, the sides of the blank converging slightly from base to top. In Figs. 2, a, 5 and 6 the blank a is illustrated in the form which results from the operation of breasting, or breast shaping, which has been performed thereon by means of the machine of my said pending application. As a result of this operation the breast surface I) is transversely concave and longitudinally convex, i. e., all the transverse elements of the breast surface are concave, as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 6, and all the longitudinal elements are convex, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 5, the edge lines at each side, as well as the intermediate lines, being convexly curved, if the cutter emerges at the side surfaces of the blank. As the blank is moved in an arc of a circle, as it is operated on, the centers of all the longitudinal elements of the breast surface will be in the same axial line, and if the sides of the blank were not sawed tapering from the base, but were parallel, and the cutter emerged at the sides, the lines of intersection of the breast and side surfaces would also have its center in said axial line, as indicated by the full and dotted lines 0 and cl in Fig. 3, in which the effect of the grooving operation on a blank 61 is illustrated, the sides of which were sawed parallel. If, however, the sides were sawed tapering, as illustrated in Fig. 4, then the lines of intersection of the breast surface and the sides, indicated by the lines a in Figs. 2, 5 and 6 will still be convex, but will converge slightly with the other longitudinal elements 11 from base to top, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 5.

In the subsequent turning operation the sides and back of the heel are so shaped that the longitudinal elements thereof are concave, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. In this latter operation the concave surface thus formed intersects the longitudinally convex breast surface at each side from top to base of the blank whether, in the previous breast shaping operation, the cutter emerged at the sides of the blank, or did not, or whether the sides were sawed tapering or parallel.

As the longitudinal. convexity of the breast surface corresponds to the arc of a circle, the highest points of said surface, considered with relation to the corresponding points at each end, will be midway of said surface, and the points of greatest depth in the longitudinally concave sides, which are formed by the turning operation, considered with relation to the top and bottom of the blank, will also, .in most instances, be at the middle of the heel, so that it may be considered that, as general rule, the surface elements through the highest points of convexity on the breast are intersected by the surface elements through the points of greatest concavity on the sides and that the elements through the corresponding intermediate points of convexity and concavity also intersect, with the result that if the extent of the convexity is in proper proportion to the extent of the concavity, the line of intersection will be straight, as viewed from the side. For example, if the curvature of the side corresponds to the arc of a circle and the convex formation on the breast is also formed on an arc of a circle, the lines of intersection will be exactly straight in side elevation, as indicated at f in Fi 7 As the sides terminate in the breast surface at each side of the heel and as the heel is symmetrically formed, these lines of intersection, if straight in side elevation, will lie in the same plane. While, in some instances, the side curvature at the point of intersection does not follow a perfect arc of a circle, yet in practically all instances this curvature, in heels of this type, approximates so closely to a true are that the resulting lines of intersection, as viewed from the side, are so nearly straight that any variation therefrom is practically only discernible with the aid of a straight edge. Consequently, sufiiciently accurate results to satisfy the requirements of the trade are secured by varying the longitudinal convexity of the breast surface according to the required concavity of the side surface, the greater the concavity at the side required, the greater being the convexity of breast necessary to neutralize the effect of the concavity at the line of intersection.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that a heel of the above described type having a longitudinally convex surface corre sponding to the longitudinally concave sides will have its lines of intersection at each side lie in approximately the same plane, or will have breast edges at each side which are straight or so nearly straight as viewed from either side of the heel, that a further operation, to straighten them or to remove the concave appearance which they would otherwise have from this point of view, is unnecessary.

I claim:

1. A heel blank having longitudinally concave side surfaces and a longitudinally convex, transversely concave breast surface, the relative concavity of the side surfaces and convexity of the breast surface so neutralizing each other that their lines of intersection at each side of the blank lie in approximately the same plane.

2. A heel blank having longitudinally concave side surfaces and a longitudinally convex, transversely concave breast surface, the longitudinal elements of said breast surface being composed of circular arcs having their centers in the same axial line and the cur vature of the longitudinal elements of said breast surface at the lines of intersection of this surface, with the side surfaces, being approximately the same as the curvature of the side surfaces at said lines, so that each so neutralizes the other as to produce lines of intersection which are approximately straight in side elevation.

3. The method of shaping wood heels which consists in forming on a heel blank a longitudinally convex, transversely concave breast surface, and forming a longitudinally concave surface at each side which intersects the breast surface at opposite sides of the blank in lines which lie in approximately the same plane.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification;

HARLEY W. RUSS.

1 DISCLAIMER 528,345.Harley W. Russ, Haverhill, Mass. HEEL AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME. Patent dated March 3, 1925. Disclaimer filed May 29, 1936, by the assignee, United Shoe Machinery Corporation. Hereby enters this disclaimer to claim 3 of said Letters Patent.

[Ofiicial Gazette July 7, 1986.] 

